IMPLEMENTING GEOSS
ESA/FAO, USGS confirmed as Portal and Clearinghouse providers
The GEOSS Common Infrastructure (GCI) has been created to ensure that end-users of Earth observations have efficient access to the full suite of Earth observation content provided through GEOSS. Continued …
Final selections announced for GEO Call for Proposals
The list of final selections for the GEO Call for Proposals is now posted on the GEO web site. Later in October, the reviewers’ reports will be sent to all contributors. In addition, the GEO User Interface and Capacity Building Committees will start working with the selected proposal teams to contact potential resource-providing organizations and to initiate their projects.
SERVIR supports forest management in Belize
A recent study conducted in the context of SERVIR demonstrates the utility of Earth observation technologies for monitoring the forest resources of Belize. Continued …
The Year of Tropical Convection
The Year of Tropical Convection (YOTC) is an international project coordinated jointly by the World Meteorological Organization’s World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) and World Weather Research Programme/The Observing System Research and Predictability Experiment (WWRP/THORPEX). Continued …
GEO Carbon Strategy Report now available
The GEO Carbon Community of Practice has finalized the GEO Carbon Strategy Report and posted it on the GEO web site. The Report describes the implementation of the GEOSS global carbon observation and analysis system, which will address the three components of the carbon cycle (atmosphere, land and ocean) integrating both in-situ and space-based observations. The report follows on from the Carbon theme report of the Integrated Global Observing Strategy Partnership (IGOS-P), which has since been fully integrated into the GEO Carbon Community of Practice.
Locating geothermal resources in East Africa
As described in the last issue of GEO News, the African-European Georesources Observation System (AEGOS) project (Task CB-09-05d) is a geoscience contribution to building GEOSS. Several recent workshops held by AEGOS and GEO have now proposed strengthening this contribution by adding a new task to the GEO Work Plan on identifying geothermal energy resources (a second new task will focus on managing the environmental impacts of mineral extraction). Continued …
Norway-led initiative to monitor CO2 storage sites
Norway is launching a new energy initiative to support and develop the use of Earth observation products and services for monitoring CO2 storage sites. If approved by the GEO Plenary, this initiative, entitled “Towards an Operational System for the Monitoring of CCS Sites”, will be implemented as a new Task in the current Work Plan. It will perform a gap analysis, define a strategy and draft a work plan for establishing an operational Earth observation system for monitoring CCS sites. Continued …
GEO UPDATE
Countdown to Beijing
Planning for the GEO-VII Plenary session and the second GEO Ministerial Summit, to be held back-to-back in Beijing during the first week of November, is now well advanced. The Ministerial agenda has been finalized, and a draft text of a Beijing Declaration has been circulated for discussion amongst governments in the run-up to the Summit. Continued …
User Interface Committee prepares for 2011
The 16th meeting of the User Interface Committee (UIC) was held in Oslo at the invitation of the Norwegian Ministry of Environment. The meeting’s objectives were to plan the Committee’s business for 2011 and to complete preparations for the GEO-VII Plenary and Ministerial Summit in November. Continued …
STC reviews Biodiversity and Ecosystem Tasks
The Science and Technology Committee (STC) met in Rome on 28-29 September at the invitation of the Italian National Research Council (CNR) and the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA). Continued …
ADC focuses on interoperability and data management
The GEO Architecture and Data Committee held its 14th meeting in Ankara, Turkey on 1-3 September. The meeting focused on the Architecture and Data Management Strategy and related issues. The presentation materials are available on the GEO FTP site. Continued …
GEO BON prepares to support Convention on Biodiversity
The Steering Committee of the GEO Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON) met in July in Cambridge, UK, at the invitation of the United Nations Environment Programme’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC). Continued …
Health and Environment Community of Practice elaborates projects
A three-day workshop of the Health and Environment Community of Practice was hosted on 27-29 July in Paris by the French Space Agency (CNES). It was attended by some 25 participants, including practitioners, scientists, and providers and users in the Earth-observation and public-health sector. Continued …
ISPRS holds special sessions on GEO
The International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) Technical Commission VIII held a Symposium on “Networking the World with Remote Sensing” in August in Kyoto, Japan. Two sessions dedicated to GEO were included in the agenda with the aims of promoting awareness of the benefits of GEO for the science and technology community and of engaging users. Continued …
Follow-up underway to OceanObs’09 conference
The OceanObs’09 conference brought together, among others, the major international stakeholders committed to the development of a sustained ocean observing system. These stakeholders decided to convene a post-conference working group that will formulate, by October 2010, its recommendations for a framework through which to move global sustained ocean observations forward in the next decade. Continued …
ANNOUNCEMENTS
QA4EO workshop announced for 5-7 April 2011
The QA4EO Workshop on Providing Quality Information in Harmonised Earth Observation Data will be held from 5 – 7 April 2011 at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) near Oxford, UK. Continued …
Earthzine extends essay, blog competition deadline to 22 October
Earthzine’s second global essay and blogging competition for college and university students worldwide has extended its deadline for submissions to 22 October 2010. Continued …